Mac Malware appears on WatchGuard ‘Top Ten Malware List’ for first time

WatchGuard Technologies, which specializes in network security solutions, today issued its quarterly Internet Security Report for the third quarter of 2018. For the first time ever, Mac-based malware appeared on WatchGuard’s list of the top 10 most common types of malware.

The report also found that 6.8% of the world’s top 100,000 websites still accept old, insecure versions of the SSL encryption protocol. Also, WatchGuard saw more malware hits in the Asia Pacific region than in any other geographical region, indicating a significant increase in malware targeting that region throughout 2018. WatchGuard says the report is based on data from tens of thousands of active WatchGuard Firebox appliances around the world and covers the major malware campaigns, network attacks and security threats targeting mid-market businesses and distributed enterprises today.

“Outside of a few surprising finds, like Mac scareware in our top ten malware list, we saw attackers stick to what they know in Q3 by reusing and modifying old attacks like cross-site scripting, Mimikatz and cryptominers. It’s a good reminder that the vast majority of attacks aren’t ultra-advanced zero days and can be prevented by using a layered security approach with advanced malware detection capabilities and investing in secure Wi-Fi and MFA solutions,” says Corey Nachreiner, CTO at WatchGuard Technologies. “However, we are quite concerned at how many major websites are still using the insecure SSL protocol. This is a basic security best practices that should be implemented across 99.9% of the internet by now – it puts hundreds of thousands of users at risk.”

These finding are based on anonymized Firebox Feed data from over 40,000 active WatchGuard UTM appliances worldwide, an increase from the number of Fireboxes reporting in last year. In total, these Fireboxes blocked almost 18 million malware variants (445 per device) and approximately 850,000 network attacks (21 per device) in quarter three of 2018. For more information, download the full report here.